What ability score is tied to the Monk's ki spells? The 'Sample Monk' sidebar for the Ki Monk says "Wisdom empowers your ki spells", but I can't find rules text in the Monk class that has anything to do with Wisdom.
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Browsing my new Core Rulebook now that I'm back from Gen Con, and upon reading the entry for Adamantine Armor it seems to not have any explicit effects other than increased hardness and HP. It just says, "Adamantine armor has a shiny, black appearance and is amazingly durable". Now, those increases to hardness, HP, and BT aren't nothing, but the rules specifically call out the fact that your armor will rarely be damaged. Is that really the only thing you're paying for if you buy adamantine armor, or am I missing something?
I recently created a character for Tyrant's Grasp, and my GM is using Spheres of Might. I really like some of the Shield sphere abilities, but my build revolves around a greatsword. Is there any way, in base Pathfinder or in Spheres, for a greatsword to be considered a shield for the Shield sphere's Active Defense ability? The only workaround I'm seeing is using a buckler and the Unhindering Shield feat. That puts it off until level 8 for me, so I was curious if there was a way to do it sooner.
I just finished playing through 'Incident at Absalom Station', and all I can think is that the Paizo guys are so jaded by years of powergamers that they have no idea what a level 1-2 party should be capable of. Since I'm actually the one who owns the book, I flipped through it a bit to confirm my suspicions. We were regularly asked to make DC 20+ skill checks (which we knew because rolls of 19 were failing), were hit by enemies that had +10 or more to hit, ect. It didn't help that we only had 3 players, but it should have been explained somewhere that it's essential to hyper-specialize your characters if you want to have any hope of succeeding. I was at one point asked to make two back-to-back Computers checks, one with a DC of 21 and one with a DC of 23. There was also a DC 25 Engineering check, a DC 30 Culture check, and a trap with a DC 24 Perception check that did 6d6 damage and dropped my fully healthy Vesk soldier to 0 hp instantly. Am I crazy in thinking that's all way too much to ask of a level 2 character? Is this how Starfinder is just going to be, a litany of failed skill checks and bewildered players? Because if so, I may not come back to the APs at all and stick to making our own stuff.
I've been working up a couple of character sheets, one for SFS and one for a home game, and I've come to an interesting conclusion: the +1 to an ability score you get from your theme means very little. Since point buy is a flat rate, 1 to 1, your theme's bonus ensures that you will end up with at least 1 odd score, which as we know ends up having the same modifier as the even score value below it. This would all be fine, except for the interesting way ability score increases work. Since they are +2 for scores 16 and below, and +1 for scores 17 and above, it takes exactly the same amount of ability score increases to reach a score of 18 in a stat for any given modifier. For example, scores that give a +3 modifier, 16 and 17, take 1 ability score increase to get to 18, while scores that give +1, 12 and 13, take 3 increases. If we were working off the old point buy method, the +1 from your theme would be invaluable, but as it stands it seems to me to not have much in-game effect, save for effects that actually lower an ability score (do those exist?), or times when you need a certain score to qualify for something, such as the 13 strength needed for the Cleave feat. Has anyone else noticed this? Am I totally off base? I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
I have a question about the maneuver recovery method of warpath followers, a class template for inquisitors and warpriests. Under the Maneuvers Readied section, it states that "At 4th level and again at 10th, 15th, and 20th levels, the number of maneuvers granted to the warpath follower at the beginning of the encounter increases by one. Unlike the warpath follower's initial granted maneuver, these additional maneuvers are randomly determined." However, the Controlled Insight class feature states that "When he readies his maneuvers, he selects two to be granted to him at all times, rather than one." This seems contradictory to me. Do you start with two you picked, then immediately get a third random one? Somebody please help me understand this XD
I posted this back in December, but never got a reply. As such, I thought I'd give it another shot. Lately I've been working on a ruleset that replaces all classes with 'talent-based' versions, using RGG's Talented line of class books as inspiration for martial classes and Spheres of Power for casters. After looking at each of the 'Talented' classes, I've got a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could answer. First off, what exactly is the logic behind each class's edge/talent progression? The Fighter starts out at the bottom with only a single talent at first level. Next is the Rogue, with one talent and one edge. The Barbarian gets a talent and an edge, as well as an actual class feature (primal reserve). The Ranger's up next, with one edge and two talents, followed by the Cavalier with two of each. Finally, we have the Monk, with three edges and two talents. I get that each class has different HD/BAB/saves/skills/proficiencies, and that might be part of the calculus. And the fact that they get qualitatively different talents. But the Fighter having only a single talent doesn't seem balanced when the Cavalier has two and two edges. Is this just a case of the developers learning as they went, or is there something I'm missing? Related to the above question, do Fighters need edges to be consistent and competitive with the other Talented classes, or are they fine as they are?
Lately I've been working on a ruleset that replaces all classes with 'talent-based' versions, using RGG's Talented line of class books for martial classes and Spheres of Power for casters. After looking at each of the 'Talented' classes, I've got a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could answer. First off, what exactly is the logic behind each class's edge/talent progression? The Fighter starts out at the bottom with only a single talent at first level. Next is the Rogue, with one talent and one edge. The Barbarian gets a talent and an edge, as well as an actual class feature (primal reserve). The Ranger's up next, with one edge and two talents, followed by the Cavalier with two of each. Finally, we have the Monk, with three edges and two talents. I get that each class has different HD/BAB/saves/skills/proficiencies, and that might be part of the calculus. And the fact that they get qualitatively different talents. But the Fighter having only a single talent doesn't seem balanced when the Cavalier has two and two edges. Is this just a case of the developers learning as they went, or is there something I'm missing? Related to the above question, do Fighters need edges to be consistent and competitive with the other Talented classes, or are they fine as they are?
I recently got a physical copy of Path of War (finally!) after having tinkered with a few characters using the rules on the d20fpsrd. Having never played a paladin or cleric type character, I was shocked by how drawn I am to the Battle Templar prestige class. What 5 levels synergise the best with Battle Templar? I was thinking either Warder 1/Cleric 4, or Warlord 1/Cleric 4, the first leaning more towards defense and the second more toward offense (and with better CHA synergy). Are either of those classes' 2nd level abilities worth losing another caster level? Is there a more interesting way into the Battle Templar? Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Hopefully this is the right place to put this. My favorite 3rd party product of all time is Malhavoc Press's Beyond Countless Doorways, a planar sourcebook originally written for D&D 3.5. I love its approach to planes, where each is a distinct (and sometimes very weird) world and not some grand 'archetypal concept', like the plane of fire or the abyss. My question is, does anybody know of any other books of this sort, or any online resources where people have done similar things? The system it's written for doesn't matter to me, I'm just interested in more planar ideas to spark my creativity.
Lately I've been working on a set of houserules I've dubbed Trailfinder. One of the goals has been overhauling the skill system. When it comes to the Knowledge skills, I'm leaving them mostly intact, but giving them more immersive names. So far I've renamed Knowledge (Arcana) to Thaumatology and Knowledge (Religion) to Theology, and simply removed the 'Knowledge' from Dungeoneering, Engineering, Geography, and History. Knowledge (Local) got removed and incorporated into a new skill called Streetwise. That leaves Nature, Nobility, and Planes. The only things I've been able to come up with are Nature Lore, Heraldry, and Cosmology. Does anybody have any other suggestions?
I'm currently making updated and improved versions of the 3.5 specialist casters (Warmage, Beguiler, and Dread Necromancer) for my homebrew setting. I'm also making a healing specialist based on the Healer and a summoning specialist based on bekeleven's Rappeler. My question is, around how many spells of each level should be on their spell lists? Since they know their entire spell list, I don't want them to be overpowered or push into 'tier 2', but I do want them to have enough spells to be versatile.
So I'm designing a campaign world with a very somber and alien feel (heavily influenced by Dark Souls), but I've run into a snag. I want powerful, imposing enemies for the players to struggle against. I want traps that severely punish careless exploration. I want death to be a very real possibility. However, I don't want the players to have to make new characters constantly. Instead of cheapening the characters, I'd rather cheapen their death. I want death to be a big enough hassle that they'll be extra cautious, but not so big that they avoid danger entirely. A major premise of this setting is that the players have gotten their powers by absorbing the 'soul' of a real hero. I thought about doing a 'corruption' system like in Dark Souls, where the stolen soul reanimates the player but gets degraded in the process, eventually atrophying altogether and turning the player into an undead. However, my players are all big Dark Souls fans and I don't want it to be too similar. Any ideas on other ways to cheapen death (and still make it equally punishing across multiple levels of play)?
Hey all, I've been mulling over how to incorporate a mana-based casting system into my homebrew setting. For some background, I'm creating a campaign world with all homebrew classes or updated/tweaked 3.5 classes. All casting classes will be specialized casters, in the vein of the Beguiler/Dread Necromancer/Warmage, and know their entire spell list. I've read a few attempts at homebrew mana systems, but they've seemed needlessly complicated to me. I'm thinking I'll just follow a standard spells-per-day progression, such as the sorcerer's or bard's, and just give the classes the same amount of mana points as the level of spells per day and have spells cost 1 point per spell level. So instead of an additional 2nd level spell and 3 3rd level spells at 6th level, for example, my classes would gain 11 spell points, and it would cost 3 points to cast fireball. Thoughts? Does anything about this seem overly broken to anyone?
So I've been working on a homebrew gun-wielding class, based primarily off of a 3.5 homebrew class, also called the Gunslinger. I'd like to call it something else, but I'm just utterly stumped. My only ideas so far have been 'Deadeye' and 'Gunman', but those just don't have the right ring to me for some reason. Thoughts?
Hey all, I'm having a bit of confusion as to the natural attack limit. Specifically, whether or not the 'Rake' special ability counts toward the limit. I use Hero Lab, and am making a level 11 Wild Caller Summoner. My Eidolon is quadruped, and has the extra limbs evolution, a bite attack, and 4 claws. This brings me up to the limit of 5 natural attacks at this level. However, when I add the rake evolution, my hero lab yells at me for having 6/5 natural attacks allowed. Is this a bug or intentional?
What it says on the tin. Is there any legal way in Pathfinder to get the Haste spell on your spell list as a straight Cleric? My GM allows some 3.5 prestige classes, and I'm looking into the possibility of a Cleric Swiftblade. I'm not so sure how he'd feel about 3.5 feats or domains however. |